This take-make-waste habit is unsustainable, and research shows, increasinglyunpopular.
Three years ago, with just 2.5mn in pre-seed funding, Alchemy pitchedAppleand won their trade-in business.
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But what actually happensaftertrade-in?
The long road to resell
Apples trade-in programme has been running for 10 years now.
The company accepts used iPhones, iPads, Macs, Apple Watches, and even Android phones.
Because Alchemy handles highly sensitive consumer data they have to be extremely rigorous.
Its a pretty serious business as youd imagine, says Murdock.
At this point they begin repairs, but only if it makes economic sense.
If its an old iPhone 8 thats smashed to pieces, it will get recycled.
Here it might end up in the claws ofDaisy, Apples recycling robot.
Daisy picks apart old devices and recovers materials for reuse.
Alchemy works more on the refurb side of the supply chain.
Less than 1% of the goods it handles go for recycling, it says.
The remaining 99% will get refurbished at Alchemys own facilities located across the world.
Its newest plant in Miami is capable of processing 60,000 devices a month.
The algorithm looks at past sales trends and makes predictions about future prices.
The more Alchemy sells, the better the software becomes at pricing a equipment accurately.
Nevertheless, getting the right price always involves some level of guesswork, says Murdock.
The rest is sold to some 1,600 second-hand resellers through Alchemys Callisto marketplace.
Despite being a six-year-old phone, Alchemy still sells up to 15,000 iPhone 8s a day.
In the early 2000s the advances in technology between models was huge, explains Murdock.
When a new Nokia 95 or HTC machine came out it left the old modelobsolete.
But now, the tech curve has flattened somewhat, leaving older phones with decent residual value.
As you could imagine, this has been a gamechanger for the refurb market.
Last year, Alchemy, which now has over 300 employees, made $442mn in revenue.
It is targeting $700mn this year and wants to hit the $1bn mark in 2024.
Apple isnt the only big tech company helping customers get the most from their old tech.
All these initiatives adapt to shifting consumer demand for more sustainable and affordable products.
Update (8:30PM CET, Aug 16 2023):This article previously mentioned that Alchemy had 60 warehouses.
This was corrected to 10 warehouses in 60 markets.
Story bySion Geschwindt
Sion is a freelance science and technology reporter, specialising in climate and energy.
